A blog about a Brownie Unit – Brownie Meeting ideas

Key to the Arts: Entry level embroidery

During a weekend visit with my nephew (representing Brownies at age 8) and niece (who is 5 and represents Spark age), I continued my plans to make needlework a part of their daily lives. As I explained to Nephew, it teaches patience, makes you think about what you’re doing, and lets you try something new.

This weekend was “Operation Embroidery”.

5yo Niece’s handiwork

I started with Niece. As you can see, her project was a little lumpy, but she was completely engaged in the process and proved that a Spark could do this (she was very concerned that the needle was not sharp and we had a big discussion about that). She loved to use the needle threader. The only thing she needed help with was to put a knot at the end of the yarn. She repeated the common kid error – she kept sewing into the wrong side and the loops kept going around the back – but she figured out how to rescue it – and she incorporated it into the design at the end.

8yo Nephew’s project

Later, I moved on to Nephew. He’d done a project like this before so I didn’t really need to show him much. You can see that his stitches are neater. He also loved the project.

I know that this is a fairly easy project to do one-on-one, but it is a different story in a unit or at camp with 20 or so girls to teach at the same time. The key to that though is preparation and making sure that the Guiders/ Helpers know what they are doing.

I would split the unit into small groups with one knowledgeable helper assigned to each. In advance, prepare a box or tray (photocopy paper trays are perfect for this) for each group with these supplies:

Plastic Canvas Circles – I chose the circles specifically because I didn’t want any corners for yarn to catch on.

a Magnet (to put the needles on when girls put them down and to help you pick them up when they hit the floor)

Scissors

Needle threaders – I made my own (see below details)

Instructions

Select and cut a piece of yarn that is as long as your wingspan – hand to hand. Put the scissors and spare yarn back in the basket.

Insert the metal loop of the needle threader through the hole in the yarn needle. Then put the yarn through the needle threader loop. Pull (hard). Once your yarn is through the hole in the needle, put the needle threader back in the basket (notice a theme?).

Now, fold the yarn in half so the needle is hanging down between your feet and the ends of the yarn are in your hand. Tie an overhand knot.

Take your plastic circle and start stitching up and down. Make a design of your choice.

Demonstrate what happens if you sew from the wrong side (you make a loop around the work)- and how to recover (gently reverse the needle through the hole). It is easy and even Niece was able to fix her own mistakes.

And that’s it. I think I’ll set this up as independent craft work at a camp next year. The teaching at the start is a bit of a crush, but my kiddos were pretty much independent once they got the hang of it. And once everyone is started, I’d amalgamate all the trays into one basket so they can keep going back to get more yarn as they need it.

And the needle threaders! I made mine out of a rectangle of plastic canvas with some jewelry wire woven into it and some duct tape to cover and anchor the wire. The loops are bigger than most needle threaders – they’re yellow so easy to find when dropped, and extra sturdy – it can stand up to a 5 year old yanking yarn through a needle.